Hodl Wars is an absolutely fantastic game with ingenious design concepts. However, I will never be friends with its creator—all because I envy their remarkable talent.
Many people say they have no idea how to play Hodl Wars. As the third player to win a reward in the game, I’d like to share my understanding and strategies with everyone.
At first glance, Hodl Wars may seem like a grid-occupying game, but that’s not the case at all. It is actually a game centered on competing for staking rewards. Below, I will supplement the game rules and share some insights into its gameplay.
1. Rules
The new tutorial, divided into 6 steps, is already clear and easy to understand. You’re lucky—when I first started playing, the tutorial was confusing, and I spent a lot of time and effort figuring it out.
Regarding the tutorial, I have the following supplements:
- First, you must register with an XEC wallet. This is mandatory; otherwise, you can only act as a spectator.
- The official name for this step is “Take Control of the Starting Zone!” In my understanding, this can be seen as an “egg”—you need to take control of the entire “egg” to successfully hatch and enter the game world.
- After successfully hatching from the “egg,” be sure to move out quickly and find a safe spot to build at least one castle. Otherwise, you will have to spend XEC again to re-enter the game, as the “Basic Control” is only valid for one day. Additionally, if someone else is also entering the game when you spawn, competing with each other will waste a lot of fees—it’s advisable to give way politely.
- Capture a Staking Cluster!
This means seizing the “piggy bank”—do whatever it takes to get it. - Capture More Staking Clusters!
I also have some doubts about this part. It seems that only the player who owns the most “piggy banks” is eligible for rewards. - Protect Your Staking Clusters!
Undoubtedly, after capturing the land, you need to prevent others from seizing it to maintain effective control.
Rewards
- Reward Details
The daily staking reward is up to 300K XEC, which I consider quite generous. - Reward Distribution
From my experience: When the countdown ends, whoever has captured the “piggy bank” will receive the next round of rewards—it has nothing to do with how long you’ve held it. I’m not sure if my understanding is correct, though.
Rewards are distributed with a delay, which also causes confusion. Players can’t be certain whether they’ve won or not. This issue needs improvement.
As a newly launched game, it’s inevitable that there will be flaws and oversights. I believe improvements will be made in the future.
2. Strategy Recommendations
First, the symbols for “castle” and “farm” mislead players into thinking this is a farming game—take this green player, for example.
The term “castle” is misleading for players; more accurately, it should be called a “city wall.”
This is a resource competition game. You can think of the “piggy banks” as oil wells—if you’ve played Command & Conquer: Red Alert, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
1. Establish Your Sphere of Influence
After spawning from the “egg,” quickly set up your base. The “Basic Control” area outside the “egg” is only valid for one day.
When securing your base, consider two factors: risk level and terrain advantage.
(1) Risk Level
The route from your spawn point to resource spots is dangerous. Specifically, the resource point at the 2 o’clock direction is the richest—and thus the route to it is also the most hazardous. Establishing your sphere of influence here will block others’ paths.
Naturally, the biggest prize at the 2 o’clock direction is the most dangerous area of all; it will become the main battlefield for competition in the future.
Areas near the edges have very low risk. For instance, I chose the bottom-right corner as my base.
From now on, please call me: “The King of the Bottom-Right Corner”
After capturing the resource point at the 5 o’clock direction, the brown player chose not to attack me further—because it wouldn’t be cost-effective.
Now that we’ve talked about edges, let’s move to the next factor: terrain advantage.
(2) Terrain Advantage
If you’re familiar with Go (the board game), you’ll know that players prioritize seizing the four corners first. Why? If you’re in the center, you need to defend against attacks from four directions; if you’re on the edge, only three directions; and if you’re in a corner, just two directions.
That’s why I chose to occupy the bottom-right corner. Meanwhile, the light green player (Player K) opted to directly take control of the upper and lower edge strips on the left side.
Additionally, you can see how fully they utilized the terrain advantage: just one “castle” (city wall) is enough to defend two farmlands.
My next plan is to take over the unoccupied “wilderness” in the bottom-right corner, then expand upward along the edge, and eventually maintain influence over the big prize at the 2 o’clock direction.
3. Suggestions
This is an absolutely fantastic game, and I really love it. Below are some suggestions for the developers’ reference:
1. Optimize Reward Rules
The reward rules should be made clearer—they’re still a bit confusing right now.
Supposedly, only the occupancy status when the countdown ends counts. However, this is a huge issue for me, as I’m usually asleep at that time and can’t participate during the critical moment.
A better solution would be: Fragment the rewards and distribute them hourly.
First, deposit all staking rewards into a dedicated reward account. Then, split the day’s total staking rewards into 24 portions in this account, with one portion distributed every hour.
Instant rewards are crucial.
2. Increase Benefits of Destroying Farms to Encourage Offensive Play
Currently, the cost to destroy a farm is 1,500 + 2,500 = 3,500 XEC.
It’s recommended to directly adjust this to: Reward 2,500 XEC for destroying a farm. This way, players can advance at zero cost, which will intensify competition.
Finally, let’s compete for resources together, bitch!